A conventional heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) transducer typically includes at least a waveguide, a near-field transducer (NFT), a main pole and a coil for energizing the main pole. The conventional HAMR writer uses light, or energy, received from a laser in order to write to a magnetic recording media. Light from the laser is incident on and coupled into the waveguide. Light is guided by the waveguide to the NFT near the air-bearing surface (ABS). The NFT focuses the light to magnetic recording media, such as a disk. This region is thus heated. The main pole is energized and field from the pole tip is used to write to the heated portion of the recording media.
Although the conventional HAMR writer functions, improvements in performance are still desired. For example, the location of the hot spot on the media, temperature gradient and distance between the media hot spot and the write pole are desired to be controlled.